As a child, I got impressions of “women and gender” issues
through certain
incidents and events. I did not hear that women were inferior to men,
but I
kind of sensed that some people thought so. Here are some gender
incidents from
my childhood memory.
I
was attending
I got good grades in the girls’ school. It was not a big deal. The girls liked me. I had many friends. In the boys' school, we had a test every Friday. The result came out on Monday and we had to sit in class according to the grades we earned. I got the best grade. The teacher placed me on the prime seat. One particular boy, Doherty, “began to find my trouble.” I did not know what I did to annoy him, but I felt the resentment. He would talk with some boys, and they would laugh and look at me. It was all confusing to me. Then one day, on a Friday, it happened.
School was over. The headteacher was giving the final address before dismissal. Doherty and his group were laughing and looking at me. He passed beside me and used his elbow to nudge me. They laughed. My heart pounded. He passed again and did the same thing. My play mates always said that “Ihe lukwe-e na nk’ ito oto” (When something reaches the third point it sticks). Many tales conveyed the impression of three as the vital point. I don’t know whether it was the magic of the third number or that my adrenalin had pumped up, but it happened on the third.
He used his leg to nudge my leg and I heard the laughter of his friends. That was it - the final point. I pushed him. A la boys’ style, he started prancing like Mohammed Ali and gave me jabs. I bent down and collected his two legs. He went down; flat on the floor. The boys cheered! I won! He did not come to school for one week; he was ashamed. The boys began to accept me.
Funny, I got their respect from whopping a boy not from getting good grades. Doherty also accepted that the first seat did not belong to him and that the new girl could also win it and sit on it.
Keep your distance from my
daughter
We heard the sound of a masquerade.
Non-initiates including
all women would watch from a distance in Eke town (Enugu State). I was
about eight years’ old and always hung
with my playmates from our compound. We were six: Vicky and her
brothers
Anthony and Charlie, me and my brothers Anthony and Pat. Augustine was
in his
early teens so he oversaw our group, told us stories, settled our
quarrels, and
thought us how to draw and paint. When the two Anthonys ran to the road
to
enjoy a chasing game with the masquerade, I also joined them. Vicky, Charlie and Pat did not
come. When the masquerade came after the crowd, we ran. That was the
fun. I did
not question why majority of women would stay at a distance. I thought
that
they could not run fast as I did. As for the girls, like Vicky; I
thought that
they were just too afraid. The three of us (Tony Enu, Tony Okafor and me) were afraid too, but
pretending not
to be afraid and running were part of the fun.
On
this particular day, the three of us ran as
the masquerade
approached. One big boy ran after me. I was fast. I ran through the
side gate of
our compound. The boy ran after me. I ran into the kitchen area (the
kitchen was a small house of three rooms on the southwest side of the main house). He came after me. I ran
straight into
the yam barn on the southeast end of the kitchen yard. He was at my heels. There was nowhere else to run to. The
barn had
one door. I began to scream.
“Hapu mu! Leave
me!”
My father heard my voice and shouted from the main house.
“O gini! What is
it?”
The boy left me and ran out.
For me it was over, but for my parents, it was
not. They
involved the boy’s parents.
The boy’s mother said, “My son was just playing with
her.”
“He’s a big boy. My daughter is
just a little girl. He is not her play mate,” my mother said.
“She was not playing. I heard her
screaming, ‘leave me, leave me,” my father said.
My mother was on her way to the magistrate court when Nna-a
Aniago, the community elder, intervened and the boy henceforth kept his
distance
from me.
High School
Most
of the great high schools were boys’
schools – they studied
science. Most of the girls’ high schools did not study science,
maybe domestic
science only. It gave the impression that boys and men had the
intelligence for
the sciences that were considered to be ‘tough.’ All my
brothers had the
opportunity to study science in high schools and were able to go
further to
study medicine, chemistry, biology, and engineering. From their
non-science
schools, my sisters went on to study law and accounting - great
subjects too, but my point is that their choice was limited to
non-science education availble to them..
Formal education was established by British
rulers of
Exposure to diversity of arts and science
subjects gave
boys more opportunity to discover their talents. Being confined to the
arts
limited the scope of girls. The situation has improved a lot and
young women are now found in all professions. There are some
States and communities that now have problem with getting boys to enrol
in schools.
The following are published works in the area of women, masking, literature & theater:
Women, Masking & Theater
(2010) “Womanhood in Igbo Cosmology: Intersections
in Chinua Achebe’s Thing’s Fall Apart.” In Achebe’s
Women: Imagism and Power Ed. Helen Chukwuma Accepted
for Publication (Trenton: Africa World Press).
(2009) “Female
Power: Corner Stone or Central Subject in Igbo Mask
Performance.” Emergent Themes and Methods in African Studies:
Essays in
Honor of Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo Ed., Falola, T and Adam Paddock.
No
compensation. (
(2007) “Global encounters: Barbie in Nigerian Agbogho-mmuo mask context.” Journal of African Cultural Studies. Vol. 19, No. 1. 37-54.
(2006)
“Terrible Beauty of Masks From Around the
World.” Review of MASKS from Around the
World by Garth Darl.
(2006) “Female
Power: Corner Stone or Central Subject in Igbo Mask Performance.”
Accepted for
publication in a book, A Survey of Igbo
Nation edited by G. E. K. Ofomata (
(1997)
“Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance.” Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature
in
(1996)
“The Dramatization of Heroism in Igbo Festivals.” UNISWA Research Journal (
(1994)
"From the Heart of Masculinity: Ogbodo Uke Women's Masking." Research in African Literatures (The
(1992)
"Power and Empowerment in African Mask Performance." Africa
Notes (
(1992)
"The Rejected Corner Stone: Women
In Igbo Mask Theater." Africana
Studies and
(1991)
“Behind the Inscrutable Wonder: The Dramaturgy of the Mask
Performer in
Traditional African Society.” Research In
African Literatures (The
Amankulor,
J. N. and Okafor, Chinyere G. (1988) "Continuity and Change in
Traditional
Nigerian Theatre among the Igbo in the Era of Colonial Politics." Ufahamu (
(1986)
"Aro Diaspora: A Cultural and Historical Overview." Arochukwu
History and Culture. Ed.
Ijoma, J. O. (
Women, Literature & Drama
(2008)
“Militant Femininity in Southern African
Poetry: A Discussion of Selected Poems by Micere Mugo and Gladys
Thomas.” In
Power and Nationalism. Ed., Falola, Toyin and S. Hassan (
(2003)
"Location
and Separateness in African and African-American Drama...” Postcolonial Perspective on Women Writers from Africa, the
Caribbean,
and the
(2002)
“La Litterature africaine
et le beauvoirisme: example d’ ‘action’ de femmes et
d’ecrivaines” In Delphy,
Christine and Sylvia Chaperon, Cinquantenaire
Du Deuxieme Sexe (
(2001) “Beyond Child Abuse.”
In Eye
to Eye: Women Practicing Development Across Cultures.
Ed. Schench, Celeste, and Susan Perry (
(2001) “Ogini’s Choice: A Novella in Ten
parts.” Englishes: Literature Inglesi Contemporanee.
No 15 ANNO 5, pp. 105-139.
(2000)
“Ogini’s
Choice,” Also published In The Quest For
Democracy: Writings on Nigerian Literature in English. Ed. Rosati, F. (
(1998)
“Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike” In Postcolonial
African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Ed.
Parekh,
Pushpa and Siga Jagne (
(1998)
“Festus Ikhuoria Ojeaka Iyayi.” In Postcolonial
African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical
Sourcebook. Ed. Parekh, Pushpa and Siga Jagne (
(1997)
“Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected
Stories by Theodora
Adimora‑Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye.” Writing West African Women: Gender, Popular
Culture and Literature in
(1996)
"Theatrical Negotiation of Transformation in No More The
Wasted Breed." Femi
Osofisan: Interpretative
(1995)
“Bus Ride With Madam Osaigbovo.” A Story in The
Potter and Other Stories (
(1994)
“Theatrical Construction Of Trial As A
Technique in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi."
JMLAN: A Publication of the Modern
Languages Association of
(1993)
"A Comparative Study of J. P. Clark's The
Masquerade and Efua Sutherland's Foriwa."
Commonwealth: Essays and Studies (
(1992)
"The Search for Gold Finger." Short Story in The Literary
Review (
(1990) “: The Man, the Playwright, and the producer on
the Nigerian
Theater Scene.” World Literature Toda.y Winter
(1990):24-29.
(1989)
"Of Spooks and Virile Men: Patterns of Response to Imperialism in Sizwe Bansi is Dead and The Trial of Dedan
Kimathi." Commonwealth: Essays and Studies (
Okafor,
Chinyere G. (1986) "Ama Ata Aidoo: Anowa" Okike:
Educational Supplement, No. 4., pp. 137‑146.
(1983)
"Creating Awareness through Shock Drama: The Example of Osofisan's Four
Robbers." Journal of Nigerian
Theatre Artistes, Vol. I, No. 1., pp. 9‑16.
(1981)
"A Woman Is Not A Stone but A
Human Being: Women in the Plays of Aidoo and Sutherland." Medium
and Message (
(1980)
"Parallelism versus Influence in African Literature...." Kiabara:
Journal of Humanities (
(20003)
“Gazing At Wide Country.” Poetry and Prose In National
Association of Women
writers Weekly, September 15.
(2001) “Foreword.” Achebe
the Orator by Chinwe Christianan Okechukwu.
(2001) “Sire That Yells,”
“One Nation,” and “One
Tough Head.” In Englishes:Literature
Inglesi
Contemporanee (
(2001)
Eight
Poems published in the “Arts and Columns” section of The
Maine Progressive: a
Journal of Politics and Culture.
<http://www.maineprogressive.org/022002/other_poems.html>
(2000)
“Millenium
Note” with republication of “Sire That Yells,” “One
Nation,” “One
Tough Head.” In Englishes:
Literature Inglesi Contemporanee (
(1999)
“Chains of Light,” and “My Love Grows in
Winter.” TurfWRITE: A Creative Writing Journal. (
(1997)
“Umsenge Tree,” and “Forests of Guava.” Weekend
Observer (
(1996)
“Counter Attack,” and “Maliyaduma Veld.”
Poems in Tyume:
(1994)
“Mother and
Child.” The Evangelist (
1994)
"Potsherds
(for Winnie Mandela)" "Crow After Hen," "For Arthur At
Coronation (on the eve of Mandela's inauguration). Poems in Africa
Update (CCSU African Studies
“Silver
Cross For
Dundon.,’ “Tribute…” and “Christmas in
the Rains.” Fathers (Periodical Magazine) (
(1993)
"Colors of
My Country," "From Charles, the Cloths‑Maker," and “Forced
Festival." Poems in Images: The
Scholar's Release (
(1993)
"Review of Gods, Oracles, and
Divinations by Kalu Ogba." Research
in African Literatures (The
Page title: Research - women Last update: February 25, 2011 Web page by C. G. Okafor |
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